.\"
.\" update-desktop-database manual page.
.\" (C) 2010 Vincent Untz (vuntz@gnome.org)
.\"
.TH UPDATE-DESKTOP-DATABASE 1 FREEDESKTOP.ORG
.SH NAME
update-desktop-database \- Build cache database of MIME types handled by
desktop files
.SH SYNOPSIS
.B update-desktop-database [\-q|\-\-quiet] [\-v|\-\-verbose] [DIRECTORY...]
.SH DESCRIPTION
The \fIupdate-desktop-database\fP program is a tool to build a cache
database of the MIME types handled by desktop files.
.PP
The cache database contains the list of MIME types that can be handled
by desktop files, as well as, for each MIME type, a list of desktop
files that can handle this MIME type. This cache database ease the work
of applications that need to find an application that can open a
document of a specific MIME type: those applications will not have to
parse all the desktop files existing on the system, and can instead
parse this cache database.
.PP
If no \fIDIRECTORY\fP is specified as argument, the desktop files that
will be processed are the ones installed in
\fB$XDG_DATA_DIRS/applications\fP.
.PP
If both the \fI--quiet\fP and \fI--verbose\fP options are used, then
\fI--verbose\fP will be ignored.
.SH OPTIONS
The following options are supported:
.TP
.I -q, --quiet
Do not display any information about processing and updating progress.
.TP
.I -v, --verbose
Display more information about processing and updating progress.
.SH NOTES
.PP
If an invalid MIME type is met, it will be ignored and the creation of
the cache database will continue.
.PP
The format of the cache database is a simple desktop entry format, with
a \fBMIME Cache\fP group, containing one key per MIME type. The key
name is the MIME type, and the key value is the list of desktop file
that can handle this MIME type.
.PP
The order of the desktop files found for a MIME type is not significant.
Therefore, an external mechanism must be used to determine what is the
preferred desktop file for a MIME type.
.SH EXAMPLE
Here is a simple example of a cache database:
.IP
 [MIME Cache]
 application/x-shellscript=gedit.desktop;
 text/plain=gedit.desktop;gvim.desktop;
 video/webm=totem.desktop;
.PP
This cache database is created with three desktop files, each containing
a \fBMimeType\fP key:
.IP
 \fBgedit.desktop\fP: MimeType=text/plain;application/x-shellscript;
 \fBgvim.desktop\fP: MimeType=text/plain;
 \fBtotem.desktop\fP: MimeType=video/webm;
.SH FILES
.PP
.B $XDG_DATA_DIRS/applications/mimeinfo.cache
.IP
This file is the cache database created by \fIupdate-desktop-database\fP.
.SH BUGS
If you find bugs in the \fIupdate-desktop-database\fP program, please
report these on https://bugs.freedesktop.org.
